Lone Voice Might Hurt Commission Unity

March 30, 1994|By CAROL LEWIS-BOHANNON Staff Writer

DELRAY BEACH — Early morning along West Atlantic Avenue, and the avenue has come to life. The merchants are out sweeping debris left by loiterers, and the regulars have come for coffee at the Atlantic Market.

Commissioner David E. Randolph is one of the regulars.

From a dusty alley behind the market, Randolph points to a crack house, creosoted poles placed to prevent parking and a gas station fenced by an owner who is trying to deter robbers.

"This could be a grand place if the city put the money into it that they are putting in the rest of the city," he said, gazing out over the rundown neighborhood. "I represent the whole city and I want to live on my side of town as peacefully as everyone else."

Welcome to Randolph's world, a community that has become the focal point of a City Hall dispute that threatens the harmony that of late has come to characterize Delray Beach politics.

Randolph, the lone black commissioner on the city's five-member commission, has become increasingly vocal - and frustrated - about the city's efforts to improve his community, an area he says most commissioners don't understand because they don't live in it.

He shocked fellow commissioners and some supporters during a workshop two weeks ago when he accused commissioners of being insensitive to the black community and having "stacked" the workshop against him.

Randolph has also criticized Delray Beach Police Chief Richard Overman and the department's efforts to clean up crime along West Atlantic Avenue.

As a member of People Engaged in Active Community Efforts (PEACE), an activist group, he has picketed the police chief for his refusal to meet with them.

"I have always wanted to work for peace and harmony, and my approach is not racial anger, it's frustration anger," Randolph said. "I have been a good citizen over the years, but I'm not going to be anybody's lollipop for the sake of peace."

Inside the Atlantic Market, Randolph is relaxed. He greets and jokes with friends near a counter topped with fried sausages, barbecued ribs, fish patties and 25-cent boiled eggs.

James Roper, the market's owner, said he has gotten used to having his morning coffee with Randolph, a close friend for more than 15 years.

"He's doing his part there is only so much that one person can do," Roper said. "But more people are beginning to wake up, and that will help him."

Randolph, 58, was first elected to the commission in 1974. He retired from politics in 1978 to run the family's West Atlantic Avenue grocery.

In 1990, however, Randolph decided to return to politics because he feared citizens were being shortchanged by city commissioners. He was elected with Mayor Tom Lynch and Commissioner Jay Alperin, who campaigned on a unity platform.

Randolph said he does not want to be divisive, particularly along racial lines. However, he is quick to add that his fellow commissioners have not supported his proposals to advance the black community.

He cited a 1992 vote by the commission that defeated a proposal from a black group to convert the downtown bowling alley to a youth club.

He also said he has repeatedly pushed for recreational programs to pull youth off West Atlantic Avenue to help deter crime, but his efforts never drew significant response from other commissioners.

As early as last year, he began telling close friends that he may not seek re-election.

"I just didn't know if I was making a difference," he said. "Everything that I wanted was shot down. But people started saying to me, `you are making a difference. Don't give up.'''

Jimmy Weatherspoon, a former city commissioner who lost to Randolph in 1990, said he clearly empathizes with him.

"Anytime there is only one African-American commissioner, you have got a tough row to hoe to get issues passed that are pertinent to the black community," Weatherspoon said. "We put the commissioner up there on the spot and expect great things, but we need to lean on the black community."

Mary Randolph, the commissioner's wife, put it more bluntly.

"That poor man [Randolph) has been running down their fighting by himself for a long time, and it hurts," she said. "His heart has never been anywhere except for the community."

Randolph's accusations against the commission stunned Mayor Lynch, who has worked with Randolph for 25 years on various city projects.

He ticks off the new tennis center, fire station and community redevelopment group as commission accomplishments for Atlantic Avenue.

"I'm sorry that he feels that way," Lynch said. "I feel that the commission has worked together."

Arthur Jackel, another former city commissioner, said Randolph is looking at what's good for one group of the community instead of the entire city.

"Commissioner Randolph has done a lot of good," Jackel said. "He supports many positive things, but maybe he expects too much too soon."